Iraq's Sadr bloc returns to parliament -spokesman

BAGHDAD, July 17 (Reuters) The political bloc of fiery Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said today it had resumed participation in Iraq's parliament, suspended last month in protest over an attack on a revered Shi'ite mosque.

''Starting from today, we have ended our suspension to the parliament. We are back,'' Nassar al-Rubaei, spokesman for the bloc in parliament, told Reuters.

The movement holds 30 of parliament's 275 seats and also accounts for a quarter of the seats in the ruling Shi'ite Alliance of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

The Sadrist bloc withdrew from parliament on June 13 after the destruction of the twin minarets of the Golden Mosque in Samarra by suspected al Qaeda militants. It complained that Maliki's government had not done enough to protect the shrine.

Rubaei said the bloc ended its boycott after the parliament responded to its demands on pressing the government to protect shrines.

The bloc also pulled its six ministers from Maliki's cabinet in April in protest at his failure to set a deadline for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.

REUTERS SKB KP1555